00:00Three years ago, the headlines were already writing the obituary for model railway clubs across the country.
00:04In a city obsessed with speed, screens and the next big thing,
00:07building miniature steam engines by hand might sound like something from a bygone era.
00:12However, step inside Keene House on a Thursday evening and that sentiment may begin to wobble off its tracks.
00:17Founded in 1910, the Model Railway Club is the oldest of its kind in the world.
00:21The club has now around 300 members with dozens in its young model club for under 18s
00:26and the number of new faces here is growing each week.
00:28It has survived two world wars, economic downturns and the complete transformation of Kins Cross around it.
00:34To understand what makes this club so special, I spoke to Chairman Karen Hobbs
00:37and two long-time members about community, patience and what keeps them coming back.
00:42We act as an outlet for their interest and they like to be together,
00:52to be able to talk about that interest, to play together.
00:58When we see them on the test tracks every so often, usually towards the end of the session,
01:05I won't say it becomes silly, but they'll invent their own little games as to how long a train of
01:13coaches their engine will pull.
01:16One day we had a, I don't know whether they've been on their WhatsApp group,
01:23there was a whole load of tank wagons.
01:27It was literally a set of tank, one train with a set of tank wagons that went all the way
01:33around the test track in all different colours.
01:35And it was wonderful to see, wonderful to see them working together.
01:39Despite its origins as a hobby for the wealthy, visitors from all walks of life are welcome.
01:44There's a workshop downstairs, a library with thousands of books and a bar where engines run beside pints.
01:49The biggest model in the workshop is Copenhagen Fields, a meticulous recreation of 1930s King's Cross that has been in
01:56construction for over 40 years.
01:58An exhibition was held in Easter 1963 and I think I remember my mother talked me to that because I
02:05was interested in trains.
02:07Little did I know that years later I'd be a member of an even more surprisingly chairman of the club.
02:13But like a lot of people, I was quite active in my teenage years, then you give me JT, in
02:19my case university, competing attractions like beer and girls and things like that.
02:25And like a lot of people of that age, sort of the hobby took a back burner.
02:29Then in my early 40s, close to where I live, I came out and I saw an advert on a
02:36lamppost for the exhibition at Alexandria Palace.
02:40I thought, oh, let's go and see what that's like.
02:43And yes, sort of restarted my interest in the hobby.
02:47Across England, participation in hobby clubs has declined over the past decade, with numerous communal spaces and social groups closing
02:54down.
02:54Yet here, people show up every week.
02:56For some, it's nostalgia.
02:58For others, it's a way to pick up a new skill.
03:00But for many, it's something simpler.
03:02Company.
03:04On a Thursday, we normally have 50 or 60 people at a member of the club.
03:10We've got people throughout the world.
03:11We've got members in Belgium, America, Ireland, most counties in the UK that we've got members.
03:24It's skills.
03:26It's just skills.
03:28People like playing trains.
03:30You can run trains to a timetable.
03:33There's always rule number one in model railways.
03:36It's my railway layout.
03:38I run what I like.
03:39What was once seen as an all-man's pastime is finding new life as something else entirely.
03:44And as members prepare to exhibit their craftsmanship at the National Exhibition Centre, it's clear this community is on track
03:50for success.
03:51It's the big exhibition we're involved in.
03:53It's quite hard work, but it's actually quite fun.
03:56And it's a bit like a school kind of theatre performance.
04:00The layouts that are going certainly are more stressed because they want to make sure they've got everything right, everything
04:05is prepared.
04:07The little bits, there are always little bits you can do to a layout, either a maintenance, they do require
04:13a certain amount of maintenance, because they're shifting around all the time, things break and so on.
04:19And also, if you're building a new bit or extending a bit, you want to get that bit finished.
04:25You've done all the preparation, you've done the rehearsal, probably our rehearsals are a little bit longer than for the
04:30average player, and then you're showing to the general public.
04:33For more than 100 years, the Model Railway Club has been running, not on Steam, but on community, passion and
04:40quality time.
04:41Jacob Antiga, Londoners News.
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